Q: I was thinking about applying for the Amazon credit card, but my credit score isn’t excellent. What is the minimum score required to be approved for this card?

A: There are several Amazon credit cards available, but for the Amazon Store Card, your credit doesn’t need to be excellent. Amazon, like most credit card issuers, doesn’t share all of its requirements for qualification, probably because they change from time to time based on whatever is profitable at the moment. With this said, several customers with credit scores in the low 600s, and even one with a score in the upper 500s, have recently managed to land Amazon store credit cards.

As long as your score is in the “fair” range, you don’t have any major black marks on your credit report (like a bankruptcy), and you have income coming in, you should be able to score their store card. The “fair” range changes depending on who you ask, but it’s around 640-680. This isn’t an elite card, so don’t be afraid to try if you’re near this mark.

With that said, beware of the extremely high interest rate with the Amazon rewards program.

Like most store cards, the interest rate for Amazon’s card is prohibitive: 25.99%. This is not the kind of card that you want to keep paying off for years. They do offer some financing offers where you don’t have to pay interest if you pay off the purchase within 6 or 12 months, but don’t be late or you’ll have to pay interest from the beginning of the promotional period, not the end of it.

Looking to Build or Rebuild Your Credit?

If you are currently looking to build or rebuilt your credit, we currently recommend the Milestone Gold MasterCard® instead of the Amazon.com Card. This is because the Milestone MasterCard allows you to see if you’re pre-qualified before you apply for the card – so you don’t have to risk having your credit pulled, only to be denied a card. The Milestone card is a MasterCard which means that it can still be used on Amazon and at millions of merchants around the world.